RICHARD ROBERTSON RUSSELL, Page #0801

Menard county was the scene of
numerous Indian raids and young Russell, catching

the spirit of the times, enlisted in Captain D. W. Roberts' Rangers
and remained with that company for two years, resigning to embark in the cattle
business. In 1886 he was elected .sheriff of Menard county, and held that office
for ten consecutive years. He refused to be a candidate for re-election at the
end of that time, as his personal affairs needed his attention. He was
interested with William Bevans and James Callan in various cattle deals and
ranch operations. In 1909 he organized the Farmers & Merchants Bank
of Ballinger, Texas. He headed the organization of the Bank of Menard, of which
William Bevans was active manager. He was a stockholder in the Citizens National
Bank of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, a stockholder in the Central Trust Company of San
Antonio, and was organizer of the Del Rio Live Stock Loan Company, and
identified with Del Rio banking interests. He was also identified with the
Ballinger Cotton Oil Company, the Winters Oil Company of Runnels county, the
Russell-Coleman Oil Company of San Antonio ; he was interested in extensive
ranch holdings in Runnels and Menard counties, as well as ranch interests in
Oklahoma. His largest individual Texas holding in one tract of land was as a
stockholder in the Big Canyon Ranch in Terrell and Pecos counties, which
consists of 245,000 acres of land and thousands of cattle and sheep. For the
past several years and until his death he has been connected with leading
banking firms in San Antonio.